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Species Spotlight: Quercus magnosquamata Djav.-Khoie
Parisa Panahi1 and Mehdi Pourhashemi2
1 National Botanical Garden of Iran, Botany Research Division, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran
2 Forest Research Division, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran
Taxonomy
All of the oak species of Iran belong to sections Quercus and Cerris of subgenus Quercus (Menitsky 1971). The most comprehensive study of Quercus in Iran was carried out by Djavanchir-Khoiea (1967) using leaf and acorn morphological characters. He identified 25 new taxa of Iranian oaks, one of which was Q. magnosquamata. Unfortunately, Djavanchir-Khoie described the taxa in his PhD thesis and so they were not validly published according to Art. 30.9.of the International Code of Nomenclature. Panahi (2011) presented a new classification for Iranian oaks after re-studying the new introduced taxa using the micromorphological characteristics of leaves and pollen grains. She confirmed four of these species, including Q. magnosquamata, and validated them (Panahi & Jamzad 2018).
The taxonomy within the Q. libani complex has been dealt with by many authors (Parsa 1949, Bobek 1951, Djavanchir-Khoie 1967, Menitsky 1971, Sabeti 1976). Panahi et al. (2012) recognized 5 taxa (Q. apiculata, Q. carduchorum, Q. libani, Q. magnosquamata, and Q. ophiosquamata) in the Q. libani complex. The populations that belong to the Q. libani complex are restricted to the northern Zagros forests in western Iran.
The most obvious features of Q. mangosquamata that distinguish it from other species of the Q. libani complex are:
- Both sides of leaf surfaces (abaxial and adaxial) are covered with trichomes.
- The number of stellate trichome rays in this species is 4–11 rays, which is higher than in the Q. libani complex (4–8 rays).
- The guard cells of stomata in Q. magnosquamata are on the same level with the surrounding epidermal cells and the rims are entirely covered by epicuticular waxes of smooth layer type. But in Q. libani, which is close to Q. magnosquamata, stomata are raised above the epidermal surface.
Distribution area
This species is endemic to Iran and can be found only in the northern Zagros forests (Fig. 1). These forests cover an area of more than 250,000 ha, and are distributed in Piranshahr Coujnty and Sardasht County (Fig. 1) in West Azerbaijan province, and Baneh County and Marivan County (Fig. 2) in Kurdistan province.


Silvicultural characteristics
A deciduous medium size tree up to 15 m high (Fig. 3), but in most areas its height is less than 10 meters. This species forms pure stands in the forests around Marivan in some areas, but in most cases it is observed as individuals together with Q. libani (Fig. 4). Pure stands of this species were observed in the Chenareh and Bayveh forests of Marivan and around the Baneh-Marivan road, and scattered individuals were observed in the Baneh County (Balkeh, Kandeh Surah, Alut, Armardeh, Nirvan, Nizeh Rood), Mirabad County (Alvatan), and Piranshahr County (Perdanan).


Botanical description
- The bark is dark gray and furrowed in older trees (Fig. 5)
Figure 5. Furrowed bark of Quercus magnosquamata - Twigs brown with numerous light brown lenticels and scattered hairs that gradually become hairless in the second year
- Buds ovate with sharp tips and scattered hairs, lower bud scales heavily hairy
- Leaves relatively broad lanceolate and irregularly narrowed towards the tip, rounded at the base or very rarely heart-shaped, with 10 to 14 pairs of teeth on the margin, both leaf surfaces slightly hairy, upper surface of the leaf yellowish green and lower surface light green, blade 6 to 9 cm long and 2 to 3.5 cm wide, petiole up to 2 cm long (Fig. 6)
Figure 6. Leaves of Quercus magnosquamata - Cylindrical and elongated seeds, with an average length of 3.9 and an average diameter of 2.9 cm (Figs. 7 and 8)
Figure 7. Quercus magnosquamata acorn - Cupule large, hemispherical, dark brown, with an average length of 2.9 cm and an average diameter of 4.2 cm, elongated, hump-shaped middle scales that are curved outward at the end, the scales on the top of the cupule are thick and elongated, raised and almost wavy, which easily distinguish this species from others in this complex. The number of cupule spirals is 18. Quercus magnosquamata has the biggest acorn among the oaks of Iran (Fig. 8). Djavanchir-Khoie (1967) named this species magnosquamata because of its long scales on the top of the cupule and big acorns (from Latin magnus = "great" + squama = "scale")


IUCN Red List status
Given the severe degradation of Zagros oak forests, it is essential to evaluate their conservation status. Based on the IUCN guidelines, three criteria were used to evaluate the conservation status of this species: extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, and number of mature individuals. The conservation status of Q. magnosquamata was categorized as Endangered, pending publication to the IUCN Red List in early 2025.
Major threats
Unfortunately, despite the good acorn production of this species (Fig. 10), sexual regeneration does not occur in forest. Most trees exhibit asexual reproduction by different forms of sprouts (Fig. 11).


Currently, the most important threats to this species are:
- Cutting of tree branches (pollarding) for livestock feed
- Cutting of tree branches for hedges
- Cutting of trees for fuel wood
- Overgrazing of livestock and destruction of all saplings on the forest floor
- Harvesting of seeds for traditional uses, especially animal feed
- Rainfed agriculture beneath the trees
a Edtior's note: The last names of Karim Djanvanchir-Khoie often appear in publications without a hyphen (Panahi et al. 20112, Panahi and Jamzad 2018). It is customary in Iran to have two last names: one name specific to a particular family, and a broader name that may have originated from a tribal or village name, and the latter is rarely used in everyday life. Djavanchir-Khoie appears as "K. Djavanchir" in a 1971 article and on his specimen labels. He was born in the city of Khoy, indicating that "Khoie" would be the "tribal or village name". Normally the two last names would not be hyphenated. However, on the cover of his thesis his name is hyphenated, so that is the format adopted for the standard form when his name appears as the authority for a published name (Djav.-Khoie).

Works cited
Bobek, H. 1951. Die natürlichen Wälder und Gehölzfluren Irans. Bonner Geogr. Abh. 8, Bonn. [link]
Djavanchir-Khoie, K. 1967. Les chênes de l`Iran. PhD thesis. University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
Menitsky, G.L. 1971. Fagaceae. In: Rechinger, K.H., editor, Flora Iranica (Vol. 77: 1–20). Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.
Panahi, P. 2011. Study of the diversity of Iranian oak species using pollen grain morphology and determining their conservation status. PhD thesis, University of Mazandaran, Sari, Iran (in Persian).
Panahi, P., and Jamzad, Z. 2018. Validation of the Quercus (Fagaceae) taxa described by Djavanchir Khoie. Turkish Journal of Botany 42(5): 662- 671. [link]
Panahi, P., Jamzad, Z., Pourmajidian, M.R., Fallah, A., and Pourhashemi, M. 2012. Taxonomic implications of micro-morphological features for taxon delimitation within the Quercus libani complex (Fagaceae) in Iran. Phytologia Balcanica 18(3): 263-276. [link]
Parsa, A. 1949. Flore de l`Iran: Fagaceae. Imprinerie Mazaheri, Tehran, 4: 1319-1332.
Sabeti, H. 1976. Forests, Trees and Shrubs of Iran. Ministry of Agricultural and Natural Resources Press, Tehran, Iran (in Persian).